17th century… “The Truth and Nothing But the Truth”: Its first use in popular culture 20 Mar 2020 By Stephen Basdeo ‘The truth and nothing but the truth’—it’s a well-known phrase used in courts of law and most of us have probably heard it in some police procedural…
15th Century… Joseph Ritson’s Discovery of “Robin Hood and the Monk” (1465) 28 Jan 2020 By Stephen Basdeo While researching my book, Discovering Robin Hood: The Life of Joseph Ritson: Gentleman, Scholar, and Revolutionary, I came across some fascinating information. I give below a snippet…
18th century… The Working Man’s Robin Hood: The Writings of Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) 24 Jan 202024 Jan 2020 By Stephen Basdeo In 1832, the publisher Charles Knight had a bright idea: every Saturday he would publish a new magazine which whose aim was to educate working-class readers about…
18th century… “Fraud, Bribery, and Corruption”: Joseph Ritson’s Account of an 18th-Century General Election 11 Dec 201917 Mar 2020 By Stephen Basdeo As a general election is looming here in the UK, I thought I might give readers a glimpse into elections of the eighteenth century, as seen through…
18th century… Joseph Ritson the Radical 5 Sep 201915 Mar 2020 By Stephen Basdeo Joseph Ritson was born in Stockton-on-Tees in 1752 to a poor yeoman family. As a child, he attended the local Unitarian Sunday School where his talents intellectual…
18th century… “Confusion, horror, and bloodshed”: Joseph Ritson’s Eye-Witness Account of the Gordon Riots in 1780 12 Jan 201912 Jan 2019 By Stephen Basdeo Unless you have been living under a rock, you will have noticed that across the English Channel in France, quite a few people are very, very annoyed…
